Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $104.99, but opened at $107.16. Novartis shares last traded at $107.28, with a volume of 319,539 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $109.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $3.8695 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.47%.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Novartis by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% during the first quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,407 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $109,739,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $88,339,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Novartis by 14,376.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,079,000 after purchasing an additional 722,272 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Company Profile

Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.